Soti Raises The Bar For Enterprise MDM

Smart devices – smartphones and tablets – were expected to account for 70% of total devices sold in 2012, and should pass the billion mark in 2013, according to Gartner. “In 2016, two-thirds of the mobile workforce will own a smartphone, and 40% of the workforce will be mobile,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

However, while increasing mobility and the bring-your-own-device trends reshape the workplace, they bring with them security and management challenges addressed by solutions like mobile device management. With more than 10,000 customers and millions of devices managed, Soti is upgrading its enterprise MDM offering, MobiControl. V10 enhancements include Web Filtering, Real Time Antivirus and Malware Protection, Telecom Expense Management, and Secure Content Library.

“This version goes really beyond mobile device management, raising the bar for corporate-liable and BYOD mobility management,” said Shash Anand, director, business development, for Toronto-based Soti. The company segments device management into five pillars: manage (provision, configure and control mobile assets), support (remote control and help desk tools for real time support), track (locate and track devices), monitor (alerts and audit reports on device status for policy compliance) and secure (encrypt data, authenticate corporate access, restrict features and lock down devices).

In addition to its pillars, Soti says the MDM market can be broken down into three categories: BYOD; corporate-liable devices consisting of both corporate and personal devices accessing the corporate network; and enterprise mobility where devices are not just for basic applications, but mission-critical devices to perform work that rely on mobile devices. “In addition to uptime, security is a concern, and also access to immediate help,” said Anand.

MobiControl V10 will appeal to a number of different customers, he said. The antivirus/malware protection appeals to education market, while both healthcare and transportation are interested in the lockdown feature and the improved security is drawing attention from the finance and aviation industries.

Anand believes MDM is just starting to gather momentum. “I’ve heard a report that only 20% of companies are leveraging MDM.” Not only are more devices being added to the market, but Soti is also seeing multiple users using the same device, and separating work and personal activities/assets will be a bigger focus in 2013.